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Breaking the Code: When Two Teens Turned Tampons into a Gaming Revolution
What happens when two teenage girls decide to tackle one of society's most persistent taboos through the unlikely medium of video games? In 2014, Andrea "Andy" Gonzales and Sophie Houser met at a Girls Who Code summer program and created "Tampon Run" - a game where players throw tampons at enemies instead of shooting bullets. Their creation went viral overnight, reaching over half a million people worldwide and catapulting them into unexpected fame. The game wasn't just entertaining; it sparked crucial conversations about menstruation stigma and women in technology. Their journey has been featured in Time, Seventeen, and CBS, with mentions on late-night shows. Even more impressive? They accomplished all this while still in high school, navigating the complexities of teenage life alongside sudden internet fame. Their story demonstrates how coding can be a powerful tool for social change, especially in the hands of young women determined to make their voices heard.
Kapitel 2
Finding Their Voices: Two Different Paths to Girls Who Code
Sophie and Andy came to the Girls Who Code summer program from dramatically different starting points. Sophie, a shy Manhattan girl who rarely spoke up in class, applied hoping coding might offer another way to express herself without using her actual voice. She'd spent years believing her thoughts were stupid, obsessing over conversations where she might have said something strange. Her journal, filled with detailed observations and creative stories, was her only safe space for self-expression. Through weekly therapy sessions and the gradual formation of close friendships with other quiet, creative students in her art class, she slowly began finding her voice. Her art teacher, Ms. Rodriguez, particularly encouraged her to share her illustrations, helping Sophie realize her ideas had value.
Andy, meanwhile, had grown up immersed in technology. Her earliest memories included playing StarCraft with her father, a computer programmer who worked for a major tech company. She remembered sitting on his lap at age five, watching in fascination as he explained how different commands made characters move across the screen. Raised in New York's East Village by her Filipino mother and surrounded by a tight-knit Filipino community, Andy faced strong expectations to pursue one of three acceptable career paths: doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Financial stability was paramount in her family's values, shaped by her grandparents' immigrant experience and years of economic struggle. Her mother frequently reminded her of the family's sacrifice to provide opportunities in America.
By fourteen, Andy had convinced her parents to invest $2,000 in sending her to SummerTech Computer Camp, where she discovered she was the only girl among twenty-three boys. Despite initial intimidation and some boys' skeptical comments about her abilities, she persevered through her first coding lessons, creating a simple game that earned her the camp's "Most Promising Programmer" award.
By junior year of high school, both girls were at crucial crossroads. Sophie was discovering her voice through blogging and digital art, learning to believe in herself through small victories like presenting a project to her entire English class without panic. Andy was excelling in AP Computer Science but questioning whether she truly loved coding or was just following her parents' expectations, especially after a challenging internship at a local tech startup where she felt culturally isolated. For both, Girls Who Code represented a chance to clarify their paths forward-Sophie hoping to find a new form of self-expression that could combine her artistic interests with technology, Andy seeking confirmation that computer science was truly her passion rather than just a path to security.
Their different backgrounds would prove complementary when they eventually teamed up on a project to create an app for teenage mental health support. Sophie brought her newfound confidence, creative vision, and personal experience with anxiety, while Andy contributed her technical experience, determination, and understanding of how to build scalable solutions. Neither could have predicted how their summer coding project would transform not only their lives but spark conversations worldwide about mental health and technology accessibility.
Kapitel 3
The Transformative Power of an All-Girl Coding Environment
The Girls Who Code environment proved revolutionary for both Sophie and Andy, though in different ways. For Sophie, who had always struggled to speak up in class, the supportive all-female space transformed her classroom behavior. "It wasn't 'actually-shit-yourself-scary' anymore because everyone wanted me to succeed," she realized. The shared experience of being girls in tech created a bond that allowed her to take risks without fear of judgment.
Sophie vividly recalls her breakthrough moment during a challenging JavaScript assignment. When she and her partner Emma finally solved the problem of creating randomly generated rectangles scrolling across the screen, they received enthusiastic applause from their peers. Though they finished last, Sophie felt no judgment-just support. Biking home that afternoon, her sense of triumph eclipsed all frustration. If she could make rectangles scroll, what couldn't she do?
For Andy, who already had coding experience, Girls Who Code transformed her approach to programming. Rather than working independently as she had at SummerTech, she learned to teach others-explaining concepts clearly without simply handing over code. This collaborative environment challenged her introverted tendencies but ultimately enhanced her understanding through conversation.
The program also connected students with industry mentors. Andy's mentor Nikki Wiles, a senior technical project manager at Vimeo, showed her that computer science wasn't isolated but connected to every aspect of life. Most importantly, Nikki demonstrated that studying CS didn't mean becoming a programmer forever-those skills could be applied in countless ways. This revelation was liberating for Andy, who worried about being too single-minded in her career path.
Guest speakers further expanded their horizons. Philanthropist Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen made a particularly strong impression on Sophie by asking students to identify their "superpowers." When Sophie reluctantly stood to declare her superpower-"when I set a goal for myself, I do whatever it takes to achieve it"-she had a revelation: she'd never considered her positive qualities before, only seeing negatives. Laura's parting words, "Be the person you never dreamed it was possible to be," made Sophie believe for the first time that she could achieve greatness.
By creating this supportive, collaborative environment focused on empowerment rather than competition, Girls Who Code was preparing these young women not just to code, but to lead and create change in the tech world.
Kapitel 4
From Feminist Awakening to Game Concept: The Birth of Tampon Run
As the Girls Who Code program approached its final project phase, both Sophie and Andy were experiencing feminist awakenings that would shape their collaboration. Andy had long been bothered by the hypersexualization of women in video games-since childhood, she'd noticed that female characters like those in Tekken bore no resemblance to real women, appearing instead as "busty, big-eyed Barbie dolls with impossible proportions." This discomfort had deepened in tenth grade when she created a satirical game based on The Odyssey, highlighting Homer's sexist double standards.
Sophie, meanwhile, had been hesitant to identify as a feminist despite agreeing with its principles. She feared stereotypes about women who embraced gender equality when convenient but accepted traditional benefits. The supportive female environment at Girls Who Code transformed her perspective, helping her understand true "girl power" and embrace feminism proudly.
When project pitch day arrived, Sophie had no specific idea but knew she wanted to create something creative with social impact. When Andy stood up and proposed a game addressing women's hypersexualization in video games (adding she was open to other gender-related issues), Sophie immediately saw potential and rushed to partner with her.
Their initial conversations revealed a shared discomfort with menstruation taboos. What started as a joke about throwing tampons evolved into a passionate discussion about their personal experiences with period shame-from hiding tampons up sleeves to friends being grossed out by period talk. Their research uncovered serious consequences of this taboo: homeless shelters and women's prisons lacking menstrual supplies, 23% of Indian girls dropping out of school at puberty, and Nepalese women forced into dirty shacks while menstruating.
The concept for Tampon Run crystallized: a game where a female character throws tampons at enemies, challenging the double standard where violent blood is acceptable in media but menstrual blood is taboo. When pitching to their instructor Sean, his hesitation about needing approval from Girls Who Code leadership only confirmed the taboo's power and strengthened their resolve.
That night, Sophie channeled her newfound passion into writing a powerful statement about menstruation that would serve as the game's preamble. Their feminist awakening had found its perfect expression-a video game that would use humor and play to challenge one of society's most persistent taboos.
Kapitel 5
Building Tampon Run: Collaboration, Frustration, and Triumph
Creating Tampon Run proved to be both challenging and transformative for Sophie and Andy. After brainstorming their concept, they developed a detailed plan: the player would control a girl on the left side of the screen while enemies (cops referencing a Texas incident where tampons were confiscated from women entering the state capitol) would run toward her. If cops reached her, they'd steal tampons; if she hit them with tampons, they'd disappear. Tampon boxes would float across the screen for reloading ammunition.
They initially overestimated what they could accomplish in one week. Their instructor Sean wisely had them create an MVP (minimum viable product)-their worst-case scenario that would still convey their concept. This basic version featured simple rectangles: blue for the girl, orange for enemies, and black squares for tampons. Even this rudimentary version thrilled them when completed in just two days.
With their MVP working, they divided tasks-Andy tackled pixel art design and animation while Sophie worked on making the girl jump. This division of labor played to their strengths: Andy brought technical experience while Sophie contributed organization and project management skills. Their complementary abilities created a perfect balance.
Both faced significant technical challenges. Sophie spent seven excruciating hours trying to make their character jump, finally having a breakthrough while leaving-the character was jumping too quickly to see! She needed variables to track position and slow the animation. When she finally implemented her solution the next morning, she erupted with joy-twirling, high-fiving herself, and shouting "YEEEESSSSSSS!"
Andy faced her own roadblocks animating Luna, their main character named as a nod to the connection between menstrual cycles and lunar phases. Despite designing her with simple 80s-inspired graphics, animation proved unexpectedly difficult. She coded late into the night, scouring forums for help and trying one solution after another. Around 3 AM, she finally assembled the right code and passed out exhausted. The next morning, Luna was sprinting across their background, arms pumping and hair flowing.
By the project's completion, they had created a game featuring a girl running, flinging tampons, and jumping while enemies zoomed across the screen. They named it "Tampon Run" (after rejecting Andy's terrible working title "Texas Tampon Massacre") and prepared to unveil it at graduation.
The collaboration taught them valuable lessons. For Sophie, working with Andy made giving up impossible since she was accountable to someone else besides herself. The frustration made success even sweeter, teaching her that failing repeatedly is often necessary for growth. For Andy, who had always preferred working independently, the experience showed her the value of partnership-how two people with complementary skills could create something neither could accomplish alone.
Kapitel 6
From Nervous Presentation to Viral Sensation
The morning of their Girls Who Code graduation, Sophie's hands shook as she biked to the IAC building, where she discovered they'd be presenting on a stage to rows of strangers. Despite her growing confidence in class participation, her newfound voice disappeared at the sight of the stage. She worried people wouldn't take their tampon game seriously or would feel uncomfortable with the subject matter.
When Andy arrived without having practiced their presentation, Sophie insisted they rehearse repeatedly in the bathroom. She confessed her intense speaking anxiety-the sweating, lightheadedness, and fear of appearing incompetent. Instead of judging her, Andy offered support and more practice time.
Andy had different concerns. While comfortable with public speaking, she dreaded her family's reaction to their tampon game. Throughout the Girls Who Code program, she'd carefully avoided mentioning the details to her family, vaguely describing it as "a side-scrolling platformer" without revealing the subject matter. If she couldn't talk about menstruation at home, how could she tell them about her tampon-throwing game?
When their names were called, Sophie clutched her notecard like a security blanket. When her turn came, panic bubbled up and she completely forgot her lines. Thankfully, she had her notecard, though it was upside down and damp from her nervous hands. Despite this stumble, the audience applauded loudly when they finished.
After the presentation, Andy anxiously waited for her parents' verdict. To her complete surprise, they were enthusiastic: "We loved it!" Her mom admitted being initially weirded out but ultimately found it made sense. Their positive reaction stunned Andy-she'd misjudged them completely.
That night, Sophie and Andy created a website for Tampon Run, amazed at how simple it had been. To promote the game, they created a Google doc titled "Releasing Tampon Run like Blood from the Uterus" with lists of people to contact. Sophie posted the game on Reddit, created a BuzzFeed community post, and set up social media accounts.
The next morning, they went to school with no idea what was coming. By evening, their game had been featured in Metro UK, and soon articles appeared everywhere. Within days, their inbox was flooded with press requests and supportive messages. They scrambled to add their bios and contact information to the site, having never expected this attention.
The game spread like wildfire, featured in Time, Seventeen, CBS, and mentioned on late-night shows. Most fulfilling were messages from users sharing menstruation stories or asking coding questions. Their creation had resonated worldwide-their ideas and voices actually mattered to strangers. What began as a summer coding project had become a global conversation about menstruation and women in technology.
Kapitel 7
Navigating Fame: The Price of Overnight Success
While Tampon Run's viral success brought incredible opportunities, it also created significant challenges for the teenage creators. Between classes, during free periods, and after school, Andy and Sophie were constantly doing phone interviews, typing email responses, or managing social media. Sophie earned the nickname "email girl" from friends as she walked through school with her laptop open to her inbox in one hand and backpack in the other.
The experience transformed their relationship with school. Sophie realized she had done something that helped people worldwide and felt fulfilled, while schoolwork made her feel trapped in an isolated bubble. She no longer needed grades to measure her self-worth-she could define success through the impact her creative projects had on others.
Both girls struggled with time management as Tampon Run consumed their lives. Andy, who had always thrived on being busy with volleyball, robotics, piano, and countless other activities, found herself missing practices, falling behind on SAT preparation, and watching her schoolwork suffer. Even her relationship with her boyfriend Nate was affected, as their schedules rarely aligned and she had to keep their relationship secret from her parents.
What suffered most was Andy's piano practice-something she'd grown up studying intensely. Unlike other activities, piano couldn't be crammed, and by year's end she failed her program's final performance. She questioned why she was sacrificing everything for Tampon Run, yet knew prioritizing it was her choice. If growing up meant letting go of things she loved, she wasn't sure she liked growing up.
The breaking point came when Sophie found herself sobbing uncontrollably in the school bathroom, exhausted from staying up late to finish homework. In that moment of clarity, she questioned why she was still obsessed with perfect grades when she'd already proven herself through Tampon Run. She began letting go-of grade anxiety, of staying up all night for assignments, of needing to be first at everything. Instead, she prioritized activities that made her happy: biking, journaling, and simply doing nothing with friends.
Both girls found themselves torn between different versions of themselves. Sophie struggled between the confident, unafraid Sophie who created Tampon Run, and the Sophie who could be scared, silly and unsure with friends. Andy wondered if the sacrifices were worth it, recognizing that Tampon Run brought immeasurable happiness, but at a significant cost.
While most feedback on their game was supportive, they also faced negative comments and one particularly uncomfortable interview with radio host Jay Thomas, who made inappropriate suggestions to the seventeen-year-olds. This experience reminded them of the darker side of the tech world, where female developers often face harassment and unequal treatment.
Despite these challenges, both girls continued to embrace the opportunities that came their way, learning to balance their newfound fame with the normal aspects of teenage life they weren't ready to sacrifice.
Kapitel 8
Beyond the Game: Professional Growth and Future Paths
Tampon Run's success opened doors neither girl could have imagined. Pivotal Labs offered them a seven-week contract with two full-time developers and a designer-all pro bono-to develop a mobile version of their game. Every day after school, they'd rush to Pivotal to work with professional coders who patiently taught them Objective-C.
The experience transformed Andy's view of working as a programmer. Rather than isolated coding, she saw a social, balanced environment where programmers constantly worked on new projects and contributed ideas. After seven weeks, they completed the iOS version of Tampon Run with new enemies, graphics, and progressive difficulty.
Their journey took them to Silicon Valley when gaming start-up Weeby.co invited them to California to learn their gaming technology and participate in a game jam co-hosted with the Stanford Alumni Association. There they created "CatCall Run," a game addressing street harassment, working for 27 straight hours and ultimately being named finalists.
Sophie realized she didn't want to simply be a coder implementing others' ideas-she wanted to launch her own startup someday. Her internship at WayUp, founded by Liz Wessel who had just raised $7.8 million, taught her valuable lessons about startup life. Initially uncomfortable in the office environment, she discovered she could bring her personality to work through creative designs, producing better results when she was authentic.
Andy secured a game development internship at DoSomething.org, where she worked on a choose-your-own-adventure game about preventing unhealthy relationships. Though years younger than other interns, she gained valuable technical skills using GitHub and new coding libraries. Most importantly, she learned from college students who were constantly changing directions and pursuing their passions.
By summer's end, Andy realized she genuinely wanted to be a programmer, not just to please her parents. Her mother surprised her by saying, "Just do what you want. And do it well." Thanks to Tampon Run and everything after, she learned to be comfortable with uncertainty about her future path, knowing computer science skills would remain valuable no matter what direction she chose.
Both girls carried these experiences to college-Andy to the University of North Carolina as a Robertson Scholar and Sophie to Brown University. Sophie continued with computer science despite occasionally resenting debugging frustrating code. The thrill of pressing Enter and watching something come to life made it worthwhile. She became determined to follow her curiosity without fear of failure, even taking a poetry seminar despite never having written poetry before.
Kapitel 9
Coding Their Own Future: Lessons from Two Teenage Tech Pioneers
The journey that began with a summer coding program transformed both girls in profound ways. Sophie, once paralyzed by fear of speaking up, found herself giving successful speeches to large audiences. At one event's after-party, she floated around enjoying free food while people approached to tell her how much her talk inspired them. One man even tried to give her a hundred-dollar bill as an "investment" in her future.
This breakthrough wasn't sudden-it was the culmination of a year spent on literal and figurative stages, learning to value her voice and its power to move people. Unlike previous triumphs, this one was entirely her own-she'd practiced alone, spoken alone, and networked alone. Though she couldn't have navigated the past year without Andy, her mom, and countless others, she now knew she could make strides independently.
For Andy, the experience confirmed her genuine passion for programming while expanding her vision of what that could mean. She discovered that coding environments could be collaborative and social rather than isolated, and that computer science skills could be applied across countless fields. Most importantly, she learned to trust her own desires rather than simply following her parents' expectations.
Through their journey, both girls discovered important truths about creativity, collaboration, and courage:
First, that coding represents unparalleled creative power-the ability to build products from scratch and reach millions instantly. The frustrations of debugging are balanced by the thrill of watching your creation come to life.
Second, that collaboration can produce results neither person could achieve alone. Andy's technical skills complemented Sophie's organizational abilities and creative vision. Working together made giving up impossible, as each was accountable not just to herself but to her partner.
Third, that fear never completely disappears, but shouldn't prevent action. Sophie's inner voice still bubbles with anxiety when trying new things, but now asks "what's the worst that could happen?" rather than retreating to safety.
Perhaps most importantly, they learned that success often comes from addressing taboos others are afraid to discuss. By tackling menstruation stigma through an approachable, humorous game, they sparked conversations worldwide about both periods and women in technology.
Andy and Sophie will always share something special, forever bonded by their creation of Tampon Run and the unexpected adventures that followed. The experience set their lives on new courses, showing them the importance of diving in despite fear. They look back at their former selves-those scared juniors plagued by insecurity-knowing parts of those girls will always remain. But they've discovered that those who succeed are those who overcome their fears and dive into the unknown to learn, create, and build.
As they wrote in their advice to their past selves: "Just try. You got this!!"
